The John and Catherine MacArthur Foundation, one of the country’s largest philanthropies with about $7 billion in assets, has some very encouraging news. It’s increasing its charitable contributions by more than 20% annually in 2025 and 2026! The foundation, which was established in 1978, is best known for its annual “genius” grants. These accolades honor the accomplishments of painters, performers, filmmakers, writers and general creatives. This unprecedented financial investment comes at an urgent time. John Palfrey, the foundation’s president, insists that there has never been a more urgent time to safeguard essential freedoms in the American republic—freedom of speech, the freedom to donate.
Funding primarily takes place within the United States. Beyond its national borders, it has partnered with civil society organizations in 117 different countries and currently has offices in India and Nigeria. This funding invests in expanding pipelines into all of these fields. Such areas include social justice, climate change, criminal justice reform, journalism and media, community development, and international peace and security. The foundation has made a significant impact across every district in the country, aligning its efforts with core democratic values.
Palfrey has been especially vocal about these new threats to charitable institutions. He views these institutions as being potentially vulnerable to political and ideological poison darts. Alongside Tonya Allen of the McKnight Foundation and Deepak Bhargava of the Freedom Together Foundation, Palfrey co-authored a joint article that warns about these dangers and promotes a public solidarity campaign aimed at safeguarding philanthropy’s right to operate freely.
“It’s important to draw some bright lines at this point and say these are lines that need not to be crossed,” – John Palfrey
As Palfrey spoke, he kept returning to that First Amendment thing as a governing principle. In doing so he highlighted the profound historical significance of America’s break from monarchical rule. And through it all, he stated, “The First Amendment is a wonderful framework for me to think about this. I think about American history, especially 1776, a very important year where we decided we wouldn’t take kings and we’d fight for our own revolution.”
Palfrey elaborated on this idea to elaborate on how this could shape the foundation’s efforts to inspire a robust and inclusive democratic society. He remarked on the importance of maintaining the rule of law over individual authority: “We decided we wanted the rule of law, not the rule of one man, and we decided, as we set up our constitution, that the first thing we would enshrine is the right of free expression.”
Palfrey spoke fervently about how these principles are at the core of what it means to be a member of the American republic. He thinks it’s very important that we start to talk about those ideas in a clear and plain way, starting today. His sentiments reflect a growing chorus of support for more active civic participation and collaboration between the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
And it is for this reason that Palfrey believes it’s incumbent on all of us, especially those with the rare privilege of free expression, to use our voices boldly. He expressed hope that people will communicate their values effectively: “I very much hope that those of us who have the right to speak freely, as we do in America, will do so. It’s one of those things: you have to use it or lose it.”
The MacArthur Foundation’s long-term commitment to creative and effective philanthropy reaffirms our shared commitment to the power of ideas and community. Palfrey remarked on the importance of collective action: “That is available to every group in America and very much in the spirit of our country. [It] is how we come together around shared ideals.”
Even as the foundation gears up for its new giving to take effect, questions about how the world sees U.S. philanthropy start to bubble up. Palfrey stressed that they only fund domestically in the U.S. Interesting, they work on projects overseas. Doubts are raised about the ability of the United States to be counted on by the rest of the world as a charitable partner. Today, that question looms ominously.
Palfrey imagines this front as an alliance among industry, academia and philanthropy. Unified, they will continue to defend these critical democratic tenets. He stated, “I’d love to see the business community say: this is what’s super-important to us, and this is how we’re going to come together around it. I’d love to see universities and colleges do the same and say: this is the essential bedrock that we need to be able to maintain.”